Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has won Georgia’s governor’s race, defeating Republican billionaire Rick Jackson and becoming the first Black woman elected governor in American history. She will also be Georgia’s first woman and first Black governor, and the first Democrat to win the office since 1998. The Associated Press reported that she received 55.4% of the vote, compared with Jackson’s 44.6%.
The victory came after a campaign in which Jackson poured more than $200 million of his personal fortune into the race. He built his wealth through Jackson Healthcare, a medical staffing company, after growing up in foster care. His political rise was rapid: he defeated Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones in the Republican primary runoff despite Trump initially backing Jones. Trump later praised Jackson and appeared alongside him at campaign rallies.
Bottoms, who served as Atlanta’s mayor from 2018 to 2022 and later worked in the Biden administration, campaigned on expanding Medicaid, raising Georgia’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, making technical and community colleges tuition-free, and increasing affordable housing. She also proposed repealing Georgia’s abortion restrictions and addressing the cost of healthcare, housing and everyday expenses.
Her victory carries a deeply personal historical meaning. Bottoms has said her family can trace its Georgia roots back at least five generations to a plantation in Crawfordville. She recalled how her grandfather once had to enter Atlanta buildings through back doors, while she later entered those same kinds of buildings as the city’s mayor. Now she is preparing to become Georgia’s 84th governor. After Stacey Abrams’ two unsuccessful campaigns, Bottoms has made history in a state where Democrats have not held the governor’s office for decades.
